Hair clipper



Feb. 27, 1934. L. H. LA CHANCE HAIR CLIPPER 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 18, 1952 www as T/Z@ a WWW y, xm! L Feb. 27, 1934.

L. H. LA CHANCE 1,949,054

HAIR CLIPPER Filed Jan. 18. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 SKN www

Patented Feb. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFC HAIR CLIPPER Leander H. La Chance,

Chicago, Ill., assigner to Application January 18,

l Claim.

This invention relates to hair clippers including horse clippers and clippers designed for barbers use. t consists in the elements and features of construction shown and described as indicated in the claim.

One purpose of the invention is to provide detail construction of a familiar type of hair clipper, either horse clipper or barbers clipper such that the housing of the vibrating cutter blade and the rearwardly extending journal bearing handle member may be die cast integrally, and that the driving shaft may be introduced from the rear end of the customary handle journal bearing and safely held in operative position against liability to be withdrawn during service,

Another purpose of the invention is to provide a construction which will permit making the housing of soft metal which can be die cast, and at the same time aiiord suitably hard guide bearing for the vibrating cutter which is of suitable hard metal for the function of cutting.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a partly sectional plan View of a clipper constructed according to this invention, shown connected with a flexible shaft by which it is to be operated.

Figure 2 is a section at the line 2--2 on Figure l.

Figure 3 is an inverted partly sectional plan view of the unitary housing and journal bearing handle, the journal bearing portion being shown in axial section.

Figure 4 is a detail section at the line 4 4 on Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing a slight modification.

Referring to the drawings in detail:

The xed cutter and comb member is seen at A; B is the vibrating cutter. An integral housing and journal bearing handle member is seen at C, C1, having journalled in the journal bearing member and extending into the housing, the operating shaft, D. E is the terminal sleeve of the flexible shaft housing; F is the rotating meinber of the iiexible shaft shown connected in the usual manner with the rear end of the operating shaft, D.

The fixed cutter and comb member, A, is held to the integral housing and handle journal bearing member, C, C1 for clamping between the fixed comb member and the housing, the vibrating cutter, B, by the usual tie bolt having a head at its lower end and extending through a slot, b, in the vibrating cutter, and bolt aperture, c, in the housing for receiving above the housing the usual compression spring, H, and the wing screw, J, for

1932. Serial No. 587,180

(Cl. Eil-1) tensioning the spring to suitably clamp the vibrating cutter between the fixed comb and cutter and the housing. The vibrating cutter is shown with the usual upstanding slotted lug, 20, for engagement of its slot with a crank pin, 21, which 30 constitutes the forward terminal of the operating shaft, D, said crank pin being furnished with the customary anti-friction roll, 22.

rEhe construction thus far described, except as to the integrality of the housing and the jour- 55 nal bearing handle, is substantially that of clippers long in common use. But in this type of clipper as hitherto constructed and used, it has been considered impracticable to make the housing and the handle journal bearing integral, because the shaft furnished in any manner with a shoulder at the inner end part for stopping it against withdrawal, must be introduced into the journal bearing from the forward end, which is impossible if the journal bearing is integral with the housing. Consequently in all devices of this class hitherto in use, the housing and the handle journal bearing have been made in two parts arranged to be secured together after vthe shaft has been introduced into the journal bearing.

A very important advantage of the construction permitting the introduction of the shaft from the rear end, is that such construction can be diecast, with the journal bearing handle integral with the housing, which cannot be done with a construction requiring the introduction of the shaft to the journal bearing from the forward end. One motive for the present invention is the economy, and therefore the desirability, of making the implement by die casting except as to the cutter members which are necessarily of hard metal which cannot be die cast.

The adaptation of the construction to be diecast and to have the housing and journal bearing integral is effected, as shown in the drawings, by making the operating shaft, D, without enlargement in diameter at the forward end, and preferably making it substantially uniform in diameter from end to end, and providing the eccentric ycrank pin rigid with and projecting in the housing cavity at the forward end of the shaft within that uniform diameter of the shaft, and making the journal bearing of the uniform diameter of the shaft from end to end, so that the shaft with the projecting crank pin is insertable from the rear end of the handle journal bearing to its operative position at which the crank pin (which may have the anti-friction roll applied to it) is engaged with the cooperating slotted lug, 20, at the vibrating cutter. With this construction it is important to provide, for stopping the shaft longitudinally in the journal bearing, means which can be applied for that purpose after the shaft is in operative position in the journal bearing.

In the drawings in Figures l, 2, 3 and 4 there is shown an expedient for this purpose consisting in forming the shaft, D, with an annular groove, 40, at any convenient point in its extent in the journal bearing, most conveniently at the forward part where it is seated in the journal bearing forwardly of the terminal sleeve of the exible shaft housing, which, according to the customary practice, is shown drive fitted on the journal bearing handle which is exteriorly slightly tapered for thus accommodating the flexible shaft terminal sleeve.

For cooperating with this annular groove of the shaft, a pin, 42, is set through the journal bearing handle, as seen in Figures l and 3, at the proper point forwardly of the flexible shaft casing sleeve, the journal bearing handle being crossbored, as seen at 43, for receiving said pin drive fitted in the cross bore.

A modified means of stopping the shaft longitudinally is shown in Figure 5 consisting in making the rear terminal, d2, of the shaft, D, with which the rotating member of the flexible shaft is engaged, slightly less in Width than the diameter of the shaft, D, so that a shoulder is formed, as seen at 45, at the base of the terminal lug, d2, and reducing the handle journal bearing at the rear end for a short distance, as seen at 50, to form a shoulder seen at 5l, and providing a collar, 52, interiorly diametered for fitting tightly,

` as by screw thread, on said reduced end of the journal bearing, said collar being exteriorly diametered correspondingly to the exterior diameter of the journal bearing handle, said collar having at the end an interior flange, 55, for cooperating with the shoulder, 45, formed at the end of the shaft, as described, by the slight reduction in width of the terminal lug, d2.

Other obvious means may be provided for stopping the shaft longitudinally adapted to be applied after the shaft is in position without departing from the invention, and I do not wish to limit myself to either of the specific means shown.

For the second purpose of the invention, viz, affording a suitably hard guiding means for the vibrating cutter in a construction in which the housing member which must carry such guide means is of metal suitable for die-casting, the housing, C, at the forward side at which it overhangs the vibrating cutter and the guide channel, has embedded in it in the process of casting, a steel bar, 55, formed at the opposite ends with projections, 56, 56, dimensioned for fitting in the guide slot, b2, of the vibrating cutter. Obviously these guide projections, 55, 56, might be separate pieces separately embedded in the casting, but for certainty of their alignment, it is preferable to form them as described as projections from a single unitary bar embedded bodily in the casting.

The form of this bar as having the intermediate portion of the length of its protruding edge recessed so as to operate for a guide bearing only at the projecting end portions, 56, 56, is of very substantial importance for practical efficiency of the construction; because the wear due to the reciprocation of the vibrating cutter is practically limited to a short distance at the end portions of this guide bar; so that if this bar were made with its bearing edge continuous throughout its length, the wear at the end portions would soon render it ineffective for holding the vibrating cutter in proper relation to the fixed cutter at the opposite limits of the cutting strokes; and it would be necessary at frequent intervals to make repairs by disassembling the structure and grinding back the guide rib formed by this bar, 55, to restore the perfectly straight edge necessary in order that the end portions of the rib may bear upon and transmit stress of the spring, H, to the vibrating cutter at the opposite ends of the strokes. This difiiculty is substantially eliminated by recessing the middle part of the length of the protruding edge of the guide bar leaving standing for actual cooperation with the guide slot, b2, only a short portion constituting the projections, 56, as described.

I claim:

In a hair clipper of the type comprising a fixed comb and cutter and a vibrating cutter lodged on the fixed comb member with guidance for vibrating over the fixed cutter and having for deriving such vibratory movement means for cooperating with an actuating element of a drive shaft, in combination with the fixed cutter and comb member a downwardly open housing upon the under side of which the comb member is engaged against displacement in the plane of said fixed member, said housing having integral therewith a rearwardly extending handle-journalbearing member exteriorly adapted to seat the terminal sleeve of a flexible shaft casing, and having a journal bearing extending through its entire length of diameter nowhere exceeding the diameter at the rear end; a shaft journalled in said bearing having diameter at no part of its length which extends in the handle and housing exceeding the diameter at the part which is journalled at the rear end of the handle, said shaft protruding at the rear end for connection with the rotating element of a flexible shaft and at the forward end exposed in the cavity of the housing and having rigid with it within the least diameter of the journal bearing, means cooperating with the means of the vibrating cutter for actuating the latter, and means located rearward of said cooperating actuating means for stopping the shaft longitudinally against withdrawal from the handle-journal-bearing, said means consisting of a collar fixedly applied to the rear end of the journal bearing handle, whereby said collar is enclosed within said terminal sleeve of the flexible shaft casing, said collar having at its rear end an annular flagc of inner diameter less than the iameter of the journal bearing at the rear end, the shaft being reduced in diameter at the rearwardly protruding end forming a shoulder cooperating with said collar flange.

LEANDER H. LA CHANCE. 

